An outgrowth of the Personal Democracy Forum, the 18,500-square-foot coworking and events space from Micah Sifry and Andrew Raseij aims to be a place for bureaucrats and civic hackers to compare notes.

Ahead of this month's "Rise" conference, we check in with a major investor giving small startup cities a boost, a former chief data officer offering advice and an open gov advocate challenging "civic tech" to rethink itself.